Bare Behind Bars

Bare Behind Bars
Directed byOswaldo de Oliveira
Written byOswaldo de Oliveira
Produced byAlexandre Adamin
Antonio Polo Galante
StarringMaria Stella Splendore
Marta Anderson
Danielle Ferrite
Neide Ribeiro
Márcia Fraga
CinematographyOswaldo de Oliveira
Edited byGilberto Wagner
Music byEstudios Galante
Production
companies
Ao Lixao Comercio de Moveis Ltda.
Galante Filmes
Release date
  • 1980 (1980)
Running time
87 minutes (Netherlands)
95 minutes (USA)
CountryBrazil
LanguagesPortuguese
English dub

Bare Behind Bars (released in Brazil as A Prisão) is a 1980 sexploitation film directed and written by Oswaldo de Oliveira. The film, which was intended as a spoof of the common "women in prison" genre, stars Maria Stella Splendore, Marta Anderson and Danielle Ferrite. The story concerns a group of lesbian inmates who are sexually abused by a sadistic female prison warden. The film features gratuitous nudity and sex scenes.[1][2]

Plot

In a women's prison in Brazil, the inmates are young and beautiful, the warden is a sadist, all but one of the guards are cruel, and the nurse is incompetent. To make it difficult for the inmates to hide contraband, they wear no underwear. They are alternately murderous and orgiastic with each other, and they engage in sex play with some of the guards. The warden pimps out inmates to wealthy lesbians. With the help of the nurse and under the cover of Carnival, three inmates stage an escape. But once out they contrive to stay undiscovered as the authorities close in.

Cast

  • Maria Stella Splendore as Sylvia – the prison warden
  • Marta Anderson as Barbara – the insane nurse
  • Danielle Ferrite as Cynthia – Prisoner #341
  • Neide Ribeiro as Sandra – the assistant warden
  • Márcia Fraga
  • Serafim Gonzalez
  • Meiry Vieira as Regular customer
  • Sonia Regina
  • Marliane Gomes
  • Nadia Destro

Release

The film was banned by BBFC in the United Kingdom after independent film distributor Redemption Films attempted to distribute the film in 1994.[3][4] Redemption Films challenged the decision in court the following year, arguing that "the BBFC was neither fair nor consistent in its approach when classifying the video."[5] It was the first time in 84 years that film censorship in Britain was "exposed to court scrutiny."[6] Nigel Wingrove, the founder of Redemption, said he spent $25,000 in his fight to get the film released.[7] He also opined, "the bottom line is that most people don't give a damn about censorship; nobody cares whether you went to court to fight for a film like Bare Behind Bars.[7]

Home media

An uncut version of the film was released on video in 1997 in the United States by Redemption Films.[8] It was released on DVD by Blue Underground on 30 May 2006.[9]

Reception

Scott Weinberg from DVD Talk wrote "this is an astonishingly bad piece of grindhouse filmmaking ... a series of painful and dingy sequences of sex and humiliation than anything resembling an actual story, the film parades its requisite components with an assembly-line regularity: evil she-bitch lesbian wardens, virginal newcomers experiencing their first tastes of reluctant cunnilingus, whips, shackles, sex slaves, brutal brawls, a few large tables you'd never want to eat off of, and a gaggle of freaky naked ladies."[9]

Author Alison Darren said "sleazy and unremitting, this exploitation film is distinguished from the usual doss by its wit and lack of pretension."[10] Film critic Antônio Da Silva opined that "although intended to titillate – and it does – the film touches on important social issues, but lacks a consistent plot."[11] The Sleazoid Express stated "the south of Tijuana approach of the film makes it not the most appetizing empinada in the WIP universe; it doesn’t have much in clever kinks, narrative twists, or attractive and charismatic actresses."[12]

Film critic Raymond Murray wrote "this poorly made soft–core women in prison sex–and–flesh-filled exploitation flick has little going for it except that it is, without a doubt, the most lesbian–oriented (at least sexually graphic) of the all the WIP films; nearly every woman in the film has sex with another woman; it's trash...amusing lesbian trash."[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ BBFC. "Bare Behind Bars". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  2. ^ Lugosi, Boris (15 June 2000). "Bare Behind Bars (1980)". Girls, Guns and Ghouls. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  3. ^ Dean, Peter (24 May 1997). "Strict Standards Keep British Videos Clean and Censors Busier Than Ever". Billboard Magazine. Vol. 109, no. 21. pp. 87, 89.
  4. ^ Lamberti, Edward (2019). Behind the Scenes at the BBFC: Film Classification from the Silver Screen to the Digital Age. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 455. ISBN 978-1-83871-448-2.
  5. ^ Hague, Helen (18 November 1995). "Videos Firm To Challenge Censors". The Independent. p. 11.
  6. ^ Matthews, Tom Dewe (27 March 1996). "Visions of Redemption". The Independent. p. 7.
  7. ^ a b Matthews, Tom Dewe (14 April 2000). "And I'd Also Like To Thank The Censors". The Independent. p. 12.
  8. ^ Charles, John (1996). "Redemption Comes to USA". Watchdog News. Video Watchdog. No. 31. p. 6.
  9. ^ a b Weinberg, Scott (30 May 2006). "Bare Behind Bars". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022.
  10. ^ Darren, Alison (2000). Lesbian Film Guide. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-4411-8364-4.
  11. ^ Da Silva, Antônio M. (2013). Pinazza, Natalia; Bayman, Louis (eds.). World Film Locations: São Paulo. Intellect Books. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-78320-115-0.
  12. ^ Landis, Bill; Clifford, Michelle (2003). "A Third World Empinada". Sleazoid Express. No. 6. p. 54.
  13. ^ Murray, Raymond (1996). "Of Lesbian Interest". Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video. New York: Plume Books. p. 333. ISBN 0-452-27627-6.
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